b'10 Partner News Spring 2021MODWorking with industry to deliver cutting-edge capabilityBy Lieutenant Commander Carl Marin-Ortega BEng MSc IEng MIET MIKE.2020 was a challenging experience forlifecycle. This has been great in broadening most of us; demanding new ways ofme as an engineer as I get to experience working whilst trying to maintain the socialcommercial aspects as well as getting my interactions that keeps teams workinghands dirty applying my MSc in some of the effectively. Despite being in the Royal Navy,deeper technical aspects. only a small part of my career has been working on a ship at sea. There are manyThis blended approach of having a suitably roles that work in the background to ensurequalified military person working within those who are have the best equipment, ata project team adds value by being the best availability, with the right training.able to provide the lived operational experience: giving direct context to the My latest role has been working in Defenceoperational environment and customer Equipment and Support (DE&S) as part ofneed. Understanding how the operatorsenabled thousands of person-hours of a project team responsible for the Typeand engineers work and live on board ascollaborative work on classified material 45 Destroyer Sea Viper weapon system.well as the operational context we fight into develop and hone the solutions based This includes everything from the effectorallows a better product to be jointly, andoff the requirement. We progress Defence (the interceptor missile), the Launcher, thesuccessfully, developed. Acquisition through a development lifecycle Command and Control (C2) system to theand break down the project using a model radars. One of the main challenges is theknown as CADMID, which is an acronym advancement in technology; both infor each phase: Concept, Analysis, To prepare for this role, I had successfullyunderstanding the adversarial capabilityDevelopment, Manufacture, In-Service, completed an MSc in Guided Weapons,and our own, now and into the future. ThisDisposal. This forces us to consider the which grounded me in the technical detailsis in effect a moving picture of changingwhole project from cradle to grave. such as advanced radar and seeker theory,goalposts, trying to set a requirement to rocket propulsion, missile guidance andwork towards knowing that this will be inWe have access to the best minds in the autopilot, and lethality. It turns out tryingthe future and anything can change duringUK, with defence partners who are highly to hit an enemy missile with your ownthat time; from new governments who mayexperienced and already delivering an missile is as difficult as it sounds! This is thehave other priorities (such as pandemics!)impressive existing capability.UKs Military Rocket Science course whereto different individuals in important roles post-graduates from all over the worldwho have a different view or understandingThis role has also enabled me to complete come to study. to technological advancements, such asmy self-development and outstanding Quantum Radars and Hypersonics.competencies I needed to apply for Working in DE&S meant that I am workingChartered Engineer. I hope to soon directly with industry and UK experts,This project is also unique in that it is abe called forward for interview and which is a change from working solelyspiral, or incremental acquisition, whichdemonstrate against the UKSPEC all the with military personnel. Part of my role issomewhat allays these issues by breakingprogress as captured in my Development acting as Lead Engineer on a large futurethe delivery into capability chunks,Action Plan; something I didnt think I would capability project: Sea Viper Evolution.meaning we can more affordably and easilyuse but has been very useful!This has required me to work alongsideprogress to our end-state of capability.fellow civilian engineers within DE&S and two large defence companies developingThe close connection we have with this large project through the procurementindustry through existing contracts has'